An object can be acoustically levitated within a chamber having a vertical axis, flat top and bottom walls, and a uniform cross-section along its height. Levitation is accomplished by applying acoustic energy resonant to the height of the chamber, so the object is levitated near an acoustic levitation surface, which is at an acoustic potential minimum of the standing wave pattern. Such a levitation surface will lie in a horizontal plane (corresponding to a pressure node). As a result, the position of the object is not localized, but has an equal probability of being situated at any position on the surface, including the walls of the chamber. Since a major purpose of acoustic levitation is to avoid the direct contact of a levitated object with a solid support, for reasons such as to avoid contamination of the object when it is heated to a liquid temperature, means must be provided to keep the object away from the walls of the chamber. One technique is to also establish acoustic standing wave patterns along one or two horizontal directions within the chamber. However, the need to apply such horizontal standing wave patterns or use other means to position the object in the center of the chamber, adds to the complexity of a levitation system. A levitation system which enabled the positioning of an object so that it not only did not move downwardly, but also so it did not move sidewardly against the walls of the chamber, using a single frequency to form a single acoustic standing wave pattern within the chamber, would be of considerable value.